Avalon
by hessan
Summary: In the Aftermath of the Collector Base destruction, Shepard and Co. must find a way to prepare for the coming storm and still survive in the "school of hard knocks" that is the Galactic Community. Shepard/Tali and possibly others. More to come as written.
1. Chapter 1 Aftershocks

NOTICE: I do not own, or claim any of the affiliated rights to, copyrighted materials utilized for this story. Additionally, it is Rated M for graphic violence, crude language, and sexual themes as well as possible (but not guaranteed) future depictions of lots of other things unsuitable for kiddies. Just warning you now that the lives of the people around or involved with Shepard are potentially very brutal, in case you didn't notice already.

Well, here I am writing my first non-anime fanfic. It's been a while since I have written anything outside of academic work for public consumption. Please be understanding with reviews, but all feedback will be appreciated.

-XX-

I was intrigued by a statement made by one of the people from Bioware made shortly after the news came out that Shepard could permanently die in ME2. The statement was that should Shepard die that a new Shepard would be needed for ME3.

Though this has since been clarified to mean something different, this got me to thinking, "Who is this new Shepard that takes over?" Now, obviously, it could be someone with a past totally unrelated to the original Shepard, but then why would someone continue his mission when the galaxy doesn't believe the danger, just so happen to share a name and not be related somehow? I doubted that Bioware would go with the clone concept either. Someone can only be brought back from the dead so many times before it gets stupid.

You can see where this is going. Shepard #2 should, at least in my mind, be related to the original by law if not by blood. Because of game limitations though, it cannot be a known relative of his. The backstories point to him/her being an only child or orphan, though the 'spacer' backstory includes the possibility of living parent(s). Likewise, the fact that Shepard doesn't have to have an Love Interest and the potential of love interests whom is genetically incompatible in addition to time constraints rule out the possibility of Shepard #2 being Shepard #1's offspring.

It was trying to resolve this issue in my head that the first vestiges of this story were born. It starts in the almost-immediate aftermath of Mass Effect 2. While I won't say that this is my version of Mass Effect 3 because I'm plotting this as I go along, so I have no idea if the story will include any of the coming Reaper onslaught. Just a note, this story is obviously a SPOILER for the first two games.

For those of you who have played the game extensively enough for this info to be useful for you, this story will use the following in-game decisions; from ME 1: Male Shepard, Soldier, Spacer, Sole Survivor, Ashley romanced, but dies, Wrex lives, Anderson selected for the Council, Council saved; from ME 2: Reinstated as a Specter, Normandy fully upgraded, Everyone survives (even Kelly), all loyalty missions completed successfully, Collector ship destroyed, ties with Cerberus severed, Tali romanced.

In any case, without further ado, the first short chapter in this tale.

=====XXXXX=====

Avalon

Chapter 1 – Aftershocks

John Shepard came into his quarters, one of the few places untouched in the firefight at the galactic core. The rest of the team was already here. Mordin was inspecting the fishtank, undoubtedly thinking of biologically-related things despite it being devoid of fish. Zaeed was leaning against the wall next Shepard's armor locker. Garrus stood next the model display case above the steps. Jack lounged herself on the stairs, trying to make the most of being out of her "hidey-hole." The rest of the ladies were seated on the couch with Thane, engaged in some sort of small talk. Jacob was leaning against the wall next to Miranda at the end of the short half of the L couch. Grunt was standing between Zaeed at the stairs. Legion had wedged himself into a corner next to the bed. He was being surprisingly fidgety for a Geth, looking at the bed and then the model ships, basically taking in the room. It was the first time the being had been in a room intended for the alien concept of "sleeping."

Close quarters all around, but it was important to meet away from the crew. Important decisions needed to be made and the consequences could be... dramatic.

Shepard sat unceremoniously on the edge of his bed, slightly embarrassed to be the center of attention in his own room, a theoretically private space. "Well, we've gone and done it. I'm sure the Illusive Man wants my head now..."

Jack snorted at that. " 'bout fucking time. I had enough of getting jerked around with by that dumb shit."

There was a feeling of general agreement throughout the room, even if most would have put it much more eloquently then the resident 'toilet mouth.' Few had respect for the Illusive Man's motives from the start, seeing him and his organization as, at best, a dangerous tool for completing the mission at hand.

Mirada leaned forward, her expression unreadable and eyes trying to bore core samples out of the Commander. "What exactly did happen between you and the Illusive Man?"

"Ties have been officially cut. I didn't rule out continued Cerberus support for the cause or was particularly rude about the parting, but I am running the show and I will go where and work with who I need to. I have payed my life debt in full. To be honest though, I would just assume that he doesn't maintain relations. Association with Cerberus has only hindered our ability to work with other powers. The Alliance thinks I'm a traitor and the Council is keeping me at a very long arm's reach. Anderson is the only major ally we really have on the Citadel."

Shepard to a deep breath before continuing. Here was the important part, the whole point behind this meeting. "Now that we are effectively on our own, many things are going to end up changing. Goals will need revisioning, plans will need making, relations will need to be assessed. The Reapers will require the full attention of the galaxy, but we are the only people who know what is truly coming. I would like to thank each and every one of you for your commitment so far. You all know that the battle is uphill from here. I want you all to think about your possible continued effort. If any of you wish to leave I will not hold it against any of you for a moment. The same will go for the crew. Just know that I am in this to the bitter end. We will make allies and we will make enemies, to be sure. The Reapers undoubtedly have many more aces up their proverbial sleeves."

He paused for a moment, fearing that he was rambling. Several member of the team looked riled up by what had been said so far, so he kept taking despite his best judgement to prevent this from turning into a bandwagon-around-Shepard rally. It was important that people made decisions for themselves without the recklessness-inducing influences of the others. "In the meantime we have more basic needs. The crew has been traumatized and the ship is in desperate need for repair. EDI, do you have any recommendations?"

EDI did not bother materializing her holoform since the projector was across the room. "While not the most ideal place for a shore leave, the best place to put to dock for immediate repairs would be Omega. The amount of stress generated by Mass Relays would make their further use unadvisable until major outer hull repairs are complete."

"You all heard her. Omega it is then. In the meantime I would like everyone to assist in the current repair and medical care. If any of you wish to talk to me in private about our future direction, I will be available. I would also encourage you all to talk amongst yourselves. We came through this as a team. Sometimes a second opinion is needed to put everything into perspective. Dismissed."

There was an awkward moment where everyone seemed to want to not be the first to talk or the first to leave. Garrus and Shepard shared a knowing look. Everyone needed time to process. Only problem was that his room was not the most convenient place for them to do it in for several reasons.

Garrus started bodily guiding Mordin, who appeared to still have a fascination with the lack of fish, out of the room. "Say, Dr. Solus, I was wondering what you thought of some countermeasures I came up with. Care to talk about it in your lab?" Whatever Mordin said in reply was muffled beyond understanding as the door closed behind them.

Fortunately others took that as a cue to leave. Thane and Samara both nodded to Shepard respectfully before wordlessly heading out. Zaeed and Grunt shared some kind of joke that sent the Krogan laughing. Probably involved violence. Jason saluted as he always did before walking off, followed by the sound of Legion's servos. Jack must have stalked off at some point, because there wasn't hide or ink of her.

Shepard stood up from his bed, unconsciously wiping his hands on his trousers as he got up. Miranda was still here, her expression pensive. Tali seemed to be talking to her about something, but too quiet for him to hear her. Whispering would be a more apt description, if one could actually do that with a suit auditory system. Something told him that it was a conversation that he didn't necessarily need to hear anyway. Girl talk, most like.

He went to his desk. It was the first time he could get to check his personal messages since their trip into the galactic core, so there were piled up. Some were the usual sex enhancement messages. You know, the ones talking about Krogan... well, yea. Another message from is mother about his continued silence, which was surprising. In the past, she would have just waited, not wanting to be overbearing. It had been Dad's job to be the nagging parent, part of a practice of being far from the Alliance core and the rest of the family, starved for information. One of the results of being a marine. Then again, death can change the people who are used to being around you. Just look at what happened to Liara or any of the other members of the old crew.

There was an update message from Oriana as well. Apparently she was settling in fine with her parents and she had gotten into a local university. She didn't mention what she was studying or where the family was. All for the better, to be sure. The message had been addressed to him, but was really written for both him and Miranda. Shepard couldn't decided whether to forward the message to her or assume that she was still reading his mail.

He was just closing out his terminal when a pair of arms traced themselves down his chest. They stayed like that for a minute enjoying the proximity, Tali leaning against the chair and Shepard's head resting against her bosom.

Tali broke the silence. "What are you thinking about, oh captain, my captain?"

That was quite the question! What wasn't he thinking about? Shepard's voice was laced with cheekiness. "The vastness of how deeply I very much love you?"

She sighed and lightly smacked him on the chest. "Bosh'tet."

He chuckled at her response to his teasing and linked fingers with her. "What were you and Miranda discussing so ardently?"

She rocked playfully, making the chair gently spin several inches back and forth. "Oh, this and that. She is still trying to come to terms with being separated from Cerberus. I guess it would be like if I had been exiled from the Fleet when one thinks about how much it has shaped her life." Tali had been on the mission with Shepard to save Oriana, so the two of them probably knew more about Miranda's past then anyone on the ship other than Jacob. "Speaking of fleets, I think we will be needing more ships."

"We are going to need more of everything." Shepard sighed before continuing. "Before ships, we need more manpower." As morbid as it sounded and raw the feeling was, causalities needed to be replaced. "Oh, and I would like you to go through the ship with EDI and Miranda and remove all the Cerberus taps on the surveillance devices. Then, we need new uniforms and a new paintjob, preferably a new registry..."

Tali interupted him with a chuckle. "I think you need to get your head together with Zaeed, Miranda, and Yoeman Chambers. I'm good at fixing things and leading teams, not convincing people to join grand causes or organizing military bodies."

"We'll just have to see where things go." He turned around and pulled Tali to sit on his lap. His forehead rested on her shoulder blades and his hands rested on her thighs. He whispered far less confidently, "I am in so far over my head."

"We'll make it. We always seem to." She placed her hands on top of his and dragged them farther up her legs in a slow, sexy manner, her voice sensual. "Right now, I would rather have your undivided attention."

"Hmm, I think I can fit you in..."


	2. Chapter 2 Stubborn Seeds

I apologize if this chapter feels disconjoined. It's probably the most shaky I feel I've ever written since I started writing fiction. If it doesn't grow on me as I write chapter 3, I will give this one a second go. On a positive note though, the material of what should become chapter 4 or 5 is pretty much done and has turned out to be a very intense pair of scenes.

For those of you interested in other post-ME2 stories as you wait on me, especially Shepard/Tali ones, I would recommend checking out the just published **Mass Effect: Induction** by TheSorrow1145. Seems to have promise.

-XXXXX-

Avalon

Chapter 2- Stubborn Seeds

Docking with Omega was more interesting then they had planned and considering this was Omega, Shepard's team had planned for quite a bit. They had already instituted that anyone who wanted to could leave the ship at any time if they were leaving for good, but otherwise the crew was to stay aboard. Last thing they needed was a crewmember falling victim to the deadly traps of the station while on shore leave. Still, Shepard had not expected a welcome committee like this one. An array of a men stood near the airlock when it opened, guns presented and primed. A leader, one of Aria's personal bodyguards addressed John, Miranda, Grunt, and Tali as they came out. "You are Commander Shepard, yes? No one has stolen your form?"

The commander displayed his empty hands. "I am Shepard. Something tells me I need to talk to Aria."

The trio were wordlessly escorted into Afterlife and after brief scans, up to the VIP balcony where Aria held court. She was stalking as she usually did when looking out at her club. Her voice was also just like usual; strong, but perspicacious. "So, you have come back from the impossible yet again. The Omega 4 relay that was supposed to lead to nowhere and you come back from it. I wonder where it goes."

Shepard sat down at in his usual place. "Where most unknown ways lead, disaster and death. Unless you like black holes, I wouldn't recommend you try it."

She though for a moment facing out over the edge of the balcony before sitting on her 'throne' couch. "I see. Well, Omega has no interest in what is not a danger or a source of profit. There is nothing following you out? Your ship is hardly... unscathed."

Their little talk was interrupted by someone coming up to one of Aria's lieutenants. He in turn whispered to Aria. She got up and looked out over the floor of the club. "I guess your stay will not be as bloodless as you or that do-good Archangel undoubtedly hoped. Sounds like the mercenary bands know you are here and remember. Unless they violate Omega's one rule, there is nothing I will do to stop them."

"How well did they fare from fucking with Aria the last time I was here?"

She gave a throaty laugh. "All of them are hurting, but not just because of me. Heard about all the disasters you have caused to their logistics. Caused somewhat of a vacuum here that I don't have the desire to fill..."

He exchanged a look with Miranda as bells went off in his head. "So whoever kills me stays on top, huh?"

"I don't care if you get involved in the little gang war. Just don't disrupt things too much or you will have to answer to them." Aria gestured, including the whole balcony of smiling thugs.

A chuckle came from Grunt. "That would be fun."

Shepard got up and moved to in front of Aria. Sometimes Grunt could be an a real idiot with his random comments. At least he was a bloody strong idiot so that most who overheard him wouldn't do anything. On the other hand, this bunch was not likely to be intimidated by one lonely krogan. "If the mercs push, I will push back. For the time being though, I need to get my ship fixed and restocked in some key supplies. So, unless you have a problem with us staying in port for a little while, everything should be fine."

When Aria threw him an evil glare, he realized that the phrasing could have been a little better. Oh well, too late now. "With your permission, of course..."

"If you didn't have my permission, your ship would not be docked right now. Just don't stay around too long. The last thing I need is vigilantes in town." Her tone made it clear that the conversation was over.

-x-

Getting supplies for repairs had gone surprisingly easy and now with the passage of just a few days, the ship was well along. Not in shape for a mass relay jump and certainly not for a firefight, but at least they didn't need to leave forcefields on with the hull patched.

Well, maybe Shepard shouldn't have been quite so surprised. After all, this was Omega. The local market was likely awash with scavenged and chop shop parts from wrecks and pirated vessels. The trick was finding the good parts amongst the rusty junk and if there was anyone with an eye for that, it was Tali. As for the crew, they had gotten so used to making things from scratch with all the upgrades that were done on the Normandy that they could probably build a whole other Normandy in their sleep if given the proper equipment and raw resources.

Jack ambushed Shepard on his way to engineering to get an update. She was camping out in one of the hallways to the engine room, a sure sign that crew members were in her private space making repairs. "So, we have gone pirate, huh?"

"I would hardly put it that way, but we are currently free agents I guess."

"Why play for a team? I mean, yea, we have fuckers to take out. Last thing we need is to play cheerleader for some dumb shits while we're at it."

He thought about it for a moment. "You know what? That's the best suggestion so far."

Shepard suddenly turned away and started heading for the elevator. Jack just snorted to herself. "If so, then that's just messed." In spite of herself a small smile crossed her face as she went down the stairs to her compartment. This could get _fun_.

-x-

Miranda was in her office trying to get a handle on the supply situation. It was good that the crew seemed so motivated to put the Normandy back to right. The problems arose when they fixed problems a lot faster than their connections on Omega were expecting to get them supplies. She had just closed her eyes to try to get them back into focus after hours of staring at a screen when Shepard stormed into the room, catching her totally off guard. She jerked with a start. "Wah!"

Shepard cringed and then almost comically tiptoed the rest of the way into the room. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just got this idea and I just needed to tell it to someone before it left me."

There was an awkward pause as she tried to recover her wits. What was with him? The Commander was never like this. "Yes?"

He paused a beat and then took a seat in the chair across from her desk, launching into a monologue. "You remember what I said about Ceberus getting in the way of us making connections? Well, I don't think that the other parties will take us back with open arms even with our connections there largely broken. Only the Migrant Fleet and the Geth would be most willing to do so and they are not really in a position to truly help us, what with the threat of war with one another at any moment. So I was thinking, if everyone believes we have gone rogue, why not truly go independent? We need to make a multi-species, galaxy-wide alliance. We already have the beginnings of that will out connections to every major political organization. You, Legion, Tali, my connections in the Alliance and the Council, Wrex on Tuchunka, Zaeed's mercenary connections, Liara's information dealings once she can help us, the allegiance of the Rachni, and more... it's all there. We just need a banner that the races can all unify under that is not otherwise connected to any of their governments."

"But we already have a banner and it's name is Shepard."

He dismissed that with an uncomfortable gesture. "Sure, I guess I have to play poster boy. But we still need a name, a face beyond mine. I have died once already and even before then I was tainted with controversy." He leaned in close to the desk, like there was someone who could overhear his dangerous ideas. "I want this organization to last. This is about more than even the Reapers. If the races can't organize, than once they are gone, everything will just dissolve into chaos again."

Miranda couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice for what she said next. "But what about your precious Council?"

"The Council is too invested in stability for stability's sake like any other old guard. They are ignoring the threat to keep the people in check and ignorant of the truth. Look at how they treat the Quarians and the Krogan. Think on how they would react to the return of the Rachni or if they knew what we know about the Geth. I won't actively oppose them, at least not right now, but that doesn't change the fact that the Council is going to end up failing one way or anther. In the end it may just die a natural death."

Miranda just sat back. She had never heard Shepard speak so passionately on anything before except Tali's court defense. This truly meant something... or Shepard was really ill, wasted, or finally cracked. "How is this any different form Cerberus then?"

"Because this won't be a one man-one species show of power-seeking. The galaxy will run itself how it sees fit. This organization would instead be the sword and shield of the people. Peacekeeping, disaster relief..."

EDI's voice echoed over the loudspeaker, interrupting the train of thought. "Commander, we are getting an encrypted transmission, audio only. It's from Oriana."

"Record and pipe it in here."

"I don't know what kind of connection they have with you Sis, but the pro-human parties has gone crazy. On one hand the jingonists are blaming the Alliance for the missing colonies and on the other they seem to be leading a massive terrorist campaign, claiming to be "fighting for the lost," but not explaining what they mean. Recruiters in the University claiming to be Terra Firma activists and they are planning on attacking the Alliance ROTC unit as we speak. Several bombs have gone off downtown at popular gathering places for... foreigners. Mom's workplace is right next to a prime target. Dad went down to try and find her when the first attack reports came in, but several bombs have gone off since then and I haven't heard from either of them. The extranet is going crazy with reports from all over the planet with the same . They certainly don't know how to do things in half measures." She tried to laugh, but died quickly. There was the sound of her taking a breath, trying to get her thoughts in order. "I'm not asking for help, but I figured Shepard probably wouldn't stand for this and you all need to know what's happening. Shit, I got to run. I'll try and get you guys more concrete info when I can. Out."

The line faded into white noise for a second before EDI cut the line. Shepard was already up and pacing up and down the room, the previous conversation forgotten for now.

"Shepard, I..."

He raised a hand to stop her. "As painful as it is, I need you to stay here. We need to get this ship back up and running a soon as possible. I'll go to where she is with a team and sort things out. I'll take Thane and Jacob. Gives me a range of options without draining too much on the repair or ship security. Hmm?" He gave her a winning smile that disarmed her in spite of herself. "EDI, ask them to meet me in the shuttle bay, ASAP. Have someone come down with a can of white hull paint as well."

He smiled at her confused look at the last comment. "No Cerberus insignia or colors. We can't risk getting mistaken, even in Alliance space. Now, where _is_ Oriana?"

Miranda sighed and then smirked at the irony. "Earth."

Shepard felt the wind falling out of his sails already. Getting to Earth would be a battle in itself...


	3. Chapter 3 Return to Origins

I hope no one minds too much but I have made major character changes to Hannah Shepard. You can talk with Shepard's mother directly in ME if you do the 'spacer' origin specific sidequest, but I largely dislike the voice-acting. It never really fit my vision of Shepard's mother and, as I wrote her into my story, the two versions of the character clashed more and more till I just finally decided make my own Hannah Shepard virtually from scratch. You'll see what I mean as you read this chapter if you have played the sidequest mentioned.

Secondly, I just wanted to reply to the good Lord Coakes's insightful comment. I don't know what is going to happen. I am literally writing as I go along. Granted, I am ahead of what is available for you all to read, but usually only by the lag time of the editorial process. At most one to two chapters. In this writing process, I will rarely know what I going to happen before the characters do and sometimes I find myself knowing even less than they do, as crazy as that might sound. Shepard may suddenly find himself at the head of a intergalactic government or an international organization as you suggested, he might die and other heroes take his place, or the Reapers might come and win this round. Anything can happen and I hope that is part of what will have readers coming back chapter after chapter.

A final note: As I stated earlier, I'm not going to hold back on anything. There may be elements in this and the next chapter that people may find offensive do to their graphic content. This is your absolute final warning.

PS: I apologize for the delay (And this long author's note!). I have two major papers due next week, so I've been trying to get a good foundation for them if not finish one of them before the weekend. As I said earlier, chapter 4 is effectively done except some minor editorial work and chapter 5 is likewise close to completion. I will put those when as I feel they have reached a good polish. I would estimate they will both be up for your viewing pleasure by the by the end of the next Friday.

-XXXXX-

Avalon

Chapter 3 - A Return to Origins

Fortunately the Kodiak shuttle had the capabilities to get them to Earth. Though it's FTL was limited because of the small size of the shuttle, there was actually very little FTL travel required to get to the Sol system. As a result, there was only a couple of mass relays separating them from Earth.

The unfortunate part was that the fortress system of Arcturus was the last one. The relay by itself had the entire First Fleet effectively devoted to it's defense and they regularly rotated in and out entire squadrons for guard duty. This was on top of Shepard's former Fifth Fleet that, while in charge of the defense of greater Alliance space, was based in the Stanford torus-type Arcturus Station and typically had a strong presence in the system except in times of emergency deployment. Then there was the station itself, not too far from the relay and constantly monitoring it. The Kodiak also did not have the Normandy's cloaking capabilities. Even if it did, it would be quite likely that someone would be using light-based sensory devices for the security of the relay in the event of another race utilizing heat/radiation stealth technology or even, God forbid, look out a window at close range.

As a result, Shepard came up with only one plan. Drift is a common occurrence in the use of relays. It was possible to mitigate and control this drift, something pilots did on a daily basis. Therefore, it was also possible to intentionally cause this drift.

The plan was to jump in from the relay outside Arcturus as close as possible to the Arcturus relay. This was very dangerous and risky. They could find themselves flying through or into a ship or the relay. Didn't change the fact though that it was the only way. The only way to truly be able to get past all that security and hope that the Second Fleet stationed in the Sol System would be ill prepared for a small vessel like the Kodiak.

Shepard had programed the Relay jump himself. The VI that had gotten them that far, for obvious reasons, was incapable of such reckless piloting. He had just hoped he remembered all of that theory correctly from his N7 training and younger years stationed abroad with the family. At least he had a newfound respect for Joker's abilities. Jumping correctly was hard, true enough. Making a jump intentionally wrong was a whole different story.

And... well, they managed to pull it off. They were only about 500 kilometers from the relay structure when the Kodiak returned to normal speeds. They even managed to avoid being detected on the Arcturus Stations sensors.

That was because there was a dreadnought between the shuttle and the station. A Kilimanjaro-class. The shuttle jumped in so close to it, it was just beyond barrels of the dreadnought's broadside guns. Shepard could see the panels opening that exposed the anti-fighter guns. An understandable reaction when someone virtually land on top of you, but chilling if you are on the business end of those.

Several alarms went off at once. He hit buttons to turn them off, finally realizing that the reason why that last incessant beeping was not turning off was not yet another proximity or lock-on alarm. Jacob, who had come up to the cockpit to figure out what was going on, pressed the switch to open communications before he could get to it.

The connection cut into the middle of a heated statement. "... to unknown vessel. Please identify your self or you will be fired upon."

A woman with an accent that could only be described as "old Kentucky" came over the comm softly, like she was speaking from across the room. "Now, now Lieutenant, there's no reason to get hasty." Jacob gave Shepard a funny look when he groaned upon hearing the voice

The Lieutenant didn't appear to be satisfied with that response. "But sir..."

"What did I say?" The voice got louder now, clearly speaking to Shepard now. "Now, I am going to have to ask you to identify yourself, ya hear? Protocol and all. Plus, it's only fair considerin'."

Shepard flipped on the mic. "This is Commander Shepard aboard the Kodiak of the SSV Normandy. We apologize for dropping in on you, Orizaba. We had a slight miscalculation in out mass effect jump."

"The Normandy ya say? How are things out there in the rest of the galaxy?"

"Not so good I'm afraid. Certainly could be worse though. How about you all? The good Admiral is just fine I hope?"

There was a hearty laugh on the other side. Shepard could hear Jacob expressing his disbelief to Thane in the back on the current turn of events.

"You know Hackett. He's always kicking up a storm." The woman on the line stopped laughing, now serious. "Now John, why are you in this neck of the woods? I'm assumin' that you didn't come to talk with your mother."

Shepard sighed. "No, I'm afraid that was not my original intention. I need to get to Earth."

"Specter work or... something else?"

There was no sense in holding back the truth. "I need to rescue someone caught up in the riots."

"Ah..." There was a rather pregnant silence. Shepard could feel her eyes on him even through layers of alloy and yards of space from years of experience of scrutinizing stare-downs. "Anti-fighter guns, stand down. Helm, we are going to take a break here."

"Thanks Mom."

The Captain slipped back into mother-mode with that. "You better stop on by the station on your way back now. I'm sure some of us would be glad to see you in the flesh again."

-x-

Shepard was shocked with they were ignored by the Second Fleet. Maybe there was something to be said for hiding in plain sight. After all, the Sol system was a very busy one.

He already knew where he needed to go. EDI had managed to track the origins of the message that Oriana had sent, so they could drop with pinpoint accuracy. While it was true that she was likely not anywhere near the original point anymore, it was all they had. Shepard had given the VI back the controls when we went back into the passenger/cargo compartment

Jacob paused while putting on his old Alliance-issue armor suit. "So, run this by me again?"

Shepard sighed. Jacob was not going to let this one go, was he? "The woman I was talking with was Captain Hannah Shepard of the SSV Orzibasa. To our great fortune, she happens to be my mother."

Thane looked up from the sniper scope he was calibrating. "So, you followed in the footsteps of your parent?"

"I wouldn't say I had no choice, but the small range of childhood exposures limited my future career choices to space-related activities. Also, my mother may be military, but he always preferred the more 'civilized' art of fleet warfare to rough-and-tumble strategy of the marines."

The VI came over the intercom. "We will be entering the atmosphere shortly. Please secure yourselves."

-x-

The VI put them down a close to the extranet terminal as possible, in a wide boulevard within the boundaries of the campus. Shepard regretted changing his armor plates back to their original matte dark grey in the summer heat of the North American Atlantic Tidewater. Even if it meant blending in with regular Alliance issue gear, this murderous sun and humidity almost made it not worth it. Then again, could have been worse. He could have been wearing Thane's dark leathers... except if one considered that he was a reptile who's ancestors originally from a desert planet.

Shepard wiped his face. The sweat that had already built up on his face had trapped some of the flying dust that the shuttle kicked up on it's departure to find a good place to hide out. "Well, we should start out by finding that extranet terminal."

-x-

It did not take them long to find the first casualty to this chaos. It was an asari. She looked like she had been gunned down randomly in the middle of the street connecting to the one that they had landed in. The lack of blood trails suggested that it was a surprise attack and a fast one, incapacitating her before she had the chance to attempt escape. Days in the sun had taken a number on her body though. Decomp in heat like this causes gases to build up in the body much more rapidly then normal, bloating it in as little as two days. It reminded Shepard of a photographer of the First American Civil War. What was his name? Ah yes, Gardner. The asari were apparently similar enough to humans that the rule still applied. In this case, the bloating had resulted in a rupture of her abdomen, further amplifying the stench of death as her putrefying guts lay exposed in the pavement in a brown dried bloodstain on the pavement.

Thane muttered a prayer, but they was nothing they could do but push on. Sadly, they did not come across any other live people before reaching the terminal. Here, there was another dead civilian. The human male lay splayed out over the unit itself. His death was much more recent. The blood that ran down his back and the terminal from the through and through wounds on his torso was still looked tacky.

Shepard was at a loss of where to go next and despaired the fact. The terminal, even if it had survived the trauma of blood and bullets, was of no use to them. Just a landmark, a last point of contact.

Voices changed his mood. They were all male, but they were angry and in the building they were next to. The squad moved out without a sound, into the building and up. Thane took point, having a more critical eye for booby traps and security systems.

Thane signaled for a halt in a hallway several floors up. Shepard slipped up to just behind him, observing. A second later, he also noticed the voices coming through the door just ahead. They had gone silent for so long that Shepard had lost track of them, but now they were back. He motioned for Jacob to take up a position on the opposite side of the door as he and Thane advanced to the near side of the doorframe. It didn't appear to be trapped, so it was probably best to head in now while the occupants were distracted by their disagreement.

On his signal, the squad burst into the room, weapons at the ready. Their entry was greeted by one of the men they were intending on attacking falling to a sniper shot through the temple. The window shattered, showering the survivors with the glass for a moment before the the second and then the third took hits.

They all hit the deck. "Stay down! I can't trust that they won't try and go for us too." Saying that wasn't really necessary. The other two were clearly not about to get up.

-x-

The sniper sighed at the complication. It had taken them 3 days to get things organized enough to make an attempt of taking back the university campus. The risk to civilians and layout of the location made the risk too great to send in the standard troops. Problem was that there were dozens of situations just like this one all over the country right now thanks to these terrorists. The rather self-contained campus was not a top priority, so it was put under siege until her team completed the other operations demanding their attention.

She pressed a button her visor communicator. "Commander, we have a problem."

The Commander's crabby, tired voice came over the line. He had undoubtedly gotten less sleep than even her with all the paperwork the heads were throwing at him. "What is it Lieutenant?"

The woman bit back a snide comment. "We have an unidentified team in the south side of the campus. They stormed a pocket of resistance just as the sniper team took it down."

"What? Take them out. Last thing we need are showboating mercs."

"Sir, two of them are in Alliance issue. The third member is a Drell."

A string of obscenities came over the line. She grimaced, glad that her team wasn't listening to this man's unprofessional bull.

He finally seemed to calm himself enough to issue orders. "Keep an eye on them, if they so much as breath funny, take out the humans first and then try and capture the Drell."

The Lieutenant was amazed by her commander's ignorance. If there was a Drell on a battlefield, that was because he had more than enough skill to be there. Capture was out of the question. No, this would require a more deft hand then she had in the team with her and they would just get in her way if she tried to pull this off by herself.

"Sergeant!"

One of the men shifted over to her position, keeping low behind the rough barricade. "Sir?"

"I need to detach. Keep doing what we have been doing and report to me if anything goes down. If you see that unidentified fire team, do not engage without permission unless they are clearly hostile. Got that?"

The Sergeant's eyes widened, but she wasn't sure if it was because this was his now first command after a fast-track promotion or at the thought that things had gotten so bad that she had to go out independent. "Sir, yes sir!"

The Lieutenant slipped away from the makeshift barricade on the roof and headed for the catwalk that lead to the next one, keeping low to minimize her silhouette. She paused for a moment behind a cooling unit to look through her scope at the room they had just hammered. There was one of the humans, staring her down with piercing blue eyes. She lowered her rifle in surprise. "What the shit?"

-x-

Shepard knew that the sniper team was on the roof of the opposing building. The fact that they had not fired on them yet was a good sign, so he pulled himself up from the floor to look out the window and orient himself. The flash of an optic attracted his attention and he found himself staring down the wrong end of another sniper scope. He did not make a move. There was no time. Nothing to do but sweat it out.

A beat or two later the soldier retreated. Jacob was not amused. "What the hell were you thinking Commander? You nearly got yourself... Just let me know before you do that again. Keeping you alive is hard enough."

Thane quietly withdrew from the window corner where he had set up his own sniper rifle and put a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "She did not have the intent to fire. I guess was that she was keeping an eye on us. She did seem surprised by something."

"Well Jacob and I are wearing Alliance uniforms. Having the Alliance interfere in a local operation would be strange. Anyway, let's get moving. We still don't know where Oriana is.


	4. Chapter 4 First Blood

-XXXXX-

Avalon

Chapter 4- First Blood

They were here again. Her breath quickened as she hid behind the desk in the back of the chemistry lab. The feel of the pistol in her hands was cold and slick from her sweat. Oriana had no idea what these guys wanted in here. They weren't looking for her, she knew that. That fact did not comfort her though. She had seen what these types were willing to do to get their way.

-0-

_Oriana ran for the ROTC barracks after finishing her message to the Normandy. She needed to know what was going on. She didn't want to watch people have to die._

_When she got there, all was utter chaos. The official personnel were no where to be found. Most likely they were already dead. They were the only people allowed to carry loaded military-grade weapons on the campus, so they would have been at the top any strategic hit list._

_A couple of cadets were guarding the door and putting up a sandbag barricade. Others were reenforcing weak points in the walls at the windows. Luckily, she was familiar to the cadets and didn't stop her from going inside._

_Inside was not much better than outside. Marine cadets were gearing up for potential firefights. Mechanics and engineers were going through the weapons and supplies. Finally, she saw the young man she was looking for. "Mark!"_

_He smiled at her before returning to issuing orders to the small group around him. "You know what to do. If you encounter the enemy, do not worry about falling back. We don't need heroes, just live troopers." They exchanged salutes and they went off, probably to gear up for a sortie._

_While Mark looked happy to see a friendly face, but his good humor was tinged by the fact that he didn't seem too pleased that it was her face in particular. "I was under the impression that civilians were to be evacuated."_

"_Really? I haven't seen a 'civilian' in about 10 minutes, at least not live ones. Just people claiming to be Terra Firma extremists handing out a gun and a badge for ID to every willing human they can get and killing all the non-humans that fall in their sights. The punks they are recruiting are not holding back against anyone."_

_Mark swore under his breath. "This is worse than I feared. We are having a hard enough time retrofitting the practice arms to fire live rounds."_

_Oriana smiled like a school girl at the thought of getting to sink her teeth into that challenge. It didn't matter that she wasn't trained for combat in her mind. "Tell me where to go and I'll help."_

_Mark sighed and looked at her with a caring form of annoyance. Just when she thought that she was about to be ordered to leave, he caved in. "Fine." He slipped a pistol out of his holster and gave it to her. "You can start with this one. Should be simple enough."_

_She took it over to one of the equipment stations to strip down the weapon. The practice weapons that the Alliance used for training purposes were exactly like the standard issue munitions. They even used the same heat sinks. The safety features in them greatly reduced the output capability of the weapons though, effectively turning them into over-glorified pellet guns. Though there was a danger of creating a system overload in the weapon, it was possible to 'tinker' with the guns to fire a respectable round._

_Shouting erupted behind the barracks. Oriana was just slipping the last of the firearm together, grabbing a handful of heatsinks and slapping one into place as she made her way to a window._

_She could not quite make out what was going on, but she could hear enough to get a gist. Apparently some of the cadets had turned to fight for the extremists and come to try and convince the others to join them. There was Mark, unarmed and in the front, verbally squaring off against the leader of the opposition. He was a kid nicknamed 'Tank' among the unit. He was thicker than a Krogan thug, but just as tough as one._

_Tank was clearly not doing a good job at convincing anyone. Mark's goading was not helping matters either. Eventually, the young man just snapped and gunned Mark down with his submachine pistol._

_To use the proverbial cliche, the shit hit the fan after that. The cadets that went outside were caught totally off guard in their inexperience. Many were not equipped and those who were armed mainly had the unmodified practice arms. The other side had state of the art, purpose-built firearms that were cutting through Marine ablative armor like butter. _

_She would have gone out there, hell be damned. After all, Mike was still out there, he might still be alive. But that train of thought was stopped by a heavy caliber bullet smashing through the bulletproof window before her. _

_What was she thinking? Mike was dead, Tank had riddled him. Yes, saving her own skin should come first. She could do no good out there. And if she was going to save herself, she needed to start moving. The enemy wasclosing in on the building, almost to the door._

_Several more smaller rounds hammered the half-broken window, adding impetus to her need to scuttle. A grenade shattered the other entry as she slipped out to what was effectively the front lobby. Another sniper shot smashed against the wall next to her, detonating in a puff of powdered concrete. The amount of planning that must have been put into this was concerning. _

_Luckily, there happened to be a tactical cloak on the counter Oriana had dived behind. It was a simple model that should get the job done. Slipping it on, she managed to get out the door with only one of two shots coming in near her. Unfortunately, the second shot was targeted at an unprotected cadet who had the same idea, but poor execution. Fortunately, she didn't witness the resulting explosion of the young man's head from the impact in her haste._

_Oriana seemed to be scott-free by the time the cloak died. Honestly, she knew about her constructed genes, but could luck be endowed in such a primitive way? For her sake, she hoped it would be enough._

_In any case, she needed to figure out what to do. She couldn't just escape through the gate. Anyone who did would likely be imprisoned by the local law enforcement, a sure way for unscrupulous people to find her. Those "recruiters" also were likely in force at the main ways into the campus to keep the flow of people in and out to a minimum._

_This made things look grim and to be honest, Oriana was running on empty. She needed to recover and fnd something to eat before anything else. She managed to find a vending machine to sate the latter, even if it meant slicing it's computer. _

_She wracked her brain to try and come up with a place to bunker down as she munched on bland breakfast bars. Then she remembered there was a chem lab in a building nearby. While it would normally seem to be unsafe hiding from armed men in a room full of volatile chemicals, this particular lab connected to the maintenance shafts. She could set up a trap and make her escape under it's cover if anyone found her there._

_It took a little doing to get there, but Oriana managed to dodge the punks at the street level. When she did get there though, the adrenaline seemed to suck out of her system and she slumped to the ground, using the door she had closed behind her as a backrest. Her muscles were achy from being constantly tense. She felt sick at her stomach. But worse of all she could not stop seeing it, that the battle of the shock was setting in as tears ran unnoticed down her face. _

-0-

Oriana cursed her decision to come here. She wasn't able to come up with a trap system in time when the first group came the first day. Instead, she was forced to hide as she had continued to do for the last several days. It was nerve wracking that her base camp was so frequently visited, but she was afraid to leave here for too long.

It was obvious why they were coming. These people wanted chemicals for weapons. These trained men too, not punks, social outcasts, or geeks with a chip on their shoulder. Bona fide commandos types.

They hadn't noticed her new trap though. This was most likely because it hadn't worked. The container holding a mixture of paralytic chemicals had failed to fall from it's place above the door and now the small group, while still in splash range, were in the room.

She tightened the chemical soaked rag she had tied over face like a primitive gas mask. It was the only advantage she had on these guys and a slim one at best.

Oriana barely muffled a startled yelp at the sound of glass bouncing on a polymer countertop. She was beginning to feel having not slept for the last 48 hour or so and that with the stress was beginning to eat away at her ability to calm herself.

One of the men started chewing out the guy who apparently caused the sound. "Man, be careful with that, will ya."

"I know, I know."

The sound of them moving about the room continued. Vials and beakers were checked and placed into carrying crates. Soon enough there would be little of use in this room. They weren't leaving though and she was getting antsy. Peering around the the edge of the desk she was hiding behind, she could see sets of combat boots by the door. So they were in splash range.

She fingered the safety on the pistol. Should she give it a shot? Shattering the beaker with a bullet would have an even better effect then having it fall on people. Deciding to go for it, she took a deep breath and flipped the safety switch. A three count and she slipped into the space next to her desk, staying low and took a pair of quick potshots at the beaker before rolling back behind the desk again.

It couldn't have gone much better. The first shot missed, sinking into the wall next to the container and making it jump a little. The second shot hit it right on the bottom edge, causing the entire bottom of of the container to shatter out, spraying the chemical everywhere. Screams accompanied, first in surprise and then pain as the chemical quickly soaked into the skin, causing voluntary muscles to seizure and sensory nerves to sense pain like a severe chemical burn before causing the person to lapse into unconsciousness. There shouldn't any physical trauma though.

Oriana knew she should hurry, so she started moving towards the exit to the shaft. It was too soon though. One of the men, only partly exposed to the chemical was still conscious and armed with a submachine gun. In his pain-ridden delirium, the man started firing towards the motion, his spare arm flailing uselessly numb. Without really thinking about it, she shot back.

The commando took a slug in his throat. Oriana only came off with a nick on her arm, but in return had to listen to the man start choking to death on his own blood as her mind tried to catch up with the reality.

No, no, no, no... This was not how it was supposed to go. She didn't want to kill anyone, just stay alive. She limply walked over to the where the men lay. The other two were already out of it. One of them had manage to claw red stripes down the skin of one of his arms, but they were largely ok.

The sight of the dying man was shattering. Kneeing on the ground, blood ran quickly from cut vessels. His good hand was held at his neck and he had coughed up blood several times. He fell onto his side as he lost his balance.

She couldn't take it anymore. Looking away, Oriana pointed the pistol at him and pulled. One, two, three, four, five... Several clicks were accompanied by the sound of a heat sink falling to the ground and sizzling against the floor. Oriana didn't dare look at the body after that. She just went back to her hiding spot.

She barely had enough time to remove her makeshift mask before she vomited.


	5. Chapter 5 Encouters

This chapter is later then I intended, but here it is.

Just a reminder note, standard text is narration. Text in quotations is speaking. Text in italics is a direct thought unless it is a single word or phrase within a sentence of standard text, in which case it is an indication of emphasis. Full-sentence italics within quotations mark the use of languages other than English by the characters, which may or may not be translated into English depending on the situation.

Avalon

Chapter 5 - Encounters

The team had moved on from the site of the sniper ambush. So far there had been little on the way of contact, even death was absent. While in some ways the lack was eerie, it was actually a good thing when one thought about it. The fewer people and bodies they encountered meant that more people got away and that the enemy was not concentrating in this area. Just when yet another building looked like it would yield nothing, the sound of gunfire not far away attracted their attention. They quickly moved up to the next floor, the apparent direction of the sounds.

Shepard and company were amazed by what they saw when they made it to the source of the sounds. It looked like a standard chemistry lab. Two men lay unconscious in the doorway, one of them spilled halfway into the hallway. The air was strong with the smell of iron though and that usually only means only one thing.

A single look in the door was all that was needed to find the source. The body of a third man lay there, mutilated by a close-range medium caliber pistol. Blood was pooled around him. Thane noticed the footprints and vomit first and followed the short trail. "Shepard..."

There was Oriana. She was shellshocked, curled up in a fetal position under the desk and oblivious to the world. Blood had soaked into her pants where it spattered, streaking them red. Her face was covered in running and smeared mascara with a little blood as well. Clutched mindlessly in her hand was an empty pistol. At first, her eyes seemed to not even see Shepard when he kneeled next to her. He didn't say a word, letting her come to in her own time. The light of recognition came slowly, but it came with horror. Oriana slowly shook her head, like she was trying to wish him away.

An understandable reaction. He was associated with her sister. Sisters were supposed to be proud of their siblings. How could that happen now? What would happen if Miranda found out that she was a... a murderer.

He held out a hand, a strong, armored hand, and gave her a tender look. Oriana felt something snap. The string that had been drawn taunter and taunter just burst asunder. She slowly began to crawl out from underneath the desk, keeping control of herself for a brief moment. It was no good. Oriana collapsed into his arms. She was crying again. There was another pair of hands trying to take the pistol from her hands, but she held on with a death grip. She didn't know why, but she just could not let go of it.

Jacob turned back from looking out the window. "We'd better get out of here Commander. It looks like the locals might be tightening the noose."

He was right, the sound of distant gunfire was intensifying. Shepard slipped back into work mode. "Do you think you can walk Oriana?"

She managed to get on her feet with a little help. She surprised them all by walking over to the dead man and picking up the spent heat sink. Tucking it into a pouch, she put a new one slowly into the pistol with a '_Well, are we going_' look on her face. Granted, it was clearly for show and the puffy eyes and smeared makeup would have made the expression look humorous under any other circumstance. She had completely avoided looking at the ruin that was the corpse. However, that she made such a rally spoke to her inner strength. None of men could avoid marveling at it in their own ways. They had all seen people who were mentally prepared for the concept taking life to be shattered by the actual experience, never mind a civilian unexposed to the violence of the universe.

Shepard pulled out and unfolded his assault rifle and took point, stepping over the unconscious pair. "Well, let's go then."

-x-

The Lieutenant tensed as she watched the previous trio come out of one of the campus buildings with an armed girl with the magnification function built into her visor. She keyed a series of buttons on her omni-tool trying to get at least some kind of IDs. The young woman came up first, a student at the campus. Maybe they had saved her? Was she the reason why they were there? That didn't make any sense. There was nothing in her past that would suggest any sort of attention like that. Sure, she had only recently come to reside on planet according to her papers, but still...

The man in front came up next. Not that she really needed the computer to tell her who it was. She could recognize that face anywhere. It was definitely John Shepard, the dead walking.

A brief burst of static came over her radio alerting her of someone connecting to her communication unit. The sergeant's voice came over, cracking in some sort of strong emotion. "Sir, we have a visual on a low-flying shuttle."

She felt her pulse quicken. "Had HQ reported it?"

"No."

The Lieutenant was steamed. Just like Field Command to keep her in the dark. "Report it at once if you haven't already. Were was it headed?"

The man's voice popped into seemingly impossible octaves yet again. _Does he seriously have to act like someone is wrenching his balls every time something unexpected happens?_ "Right towards you!"

She could hear it's stabilizing rockets already. The Kodiak zipped overhead as it headed towards the campus green just ahead that the foursome had just moved into. She quickly set up her sniper rifle. _They can't get away_.

The Commander's voice crackled over her comm. "Lieutenant, return to base."

"Sir, I have eyes on the drop shuttle. It has landed and is taking on the team with a member of the student body."

"I said withdraw."

_Of all the bloody inconvenient timings_. "But..."

He was clearly mad. She couldn't tell if it was because of frustration about the shuttle or just her talking back. "Look, this has nothing to do with them Lieutenant Shepard. Your relief order came from the top. You are to go to the spaceport and get on the next ship to Arcturus Station, ASAP."

The woman cut the line and swore in every language she knew. Putting away her rifle, took out her pistol and make to retrace her steps. There was only one person who would pull something like this off to get her in space and was anywhere near the Alliance capital. "Mother..."

-x-

It seemed like everything would be able to go off without a hitch. The Kodiak had managed to make it off Earth and out of the system without a call to power off engines or anything. Shepard wasn't sure if he should thank his mother or be scared of her influence. After all, the Second Fleet was practically ignoring them and there was no way that it was because .

Oriana had fallen asleep almost as soon as they were all aboard. He wished that there was something they could do about her bloody clothes and body, but until they docked with the Arcturus Station to refuel, there was nothing that could really help either on the shuttle.

At one point, she had gone into a nightmare. Thane had recognized the signs first. Oriana had started shivering and broke into cold sweat. She would have jerked right off the bench, but he managed to stop her before she tumbled to the floor. The young woman stayed asleep and seemed to relax under his touch. She seemed to fall back into nightmare again when he let go and moved away from her. Accepting it, Thane decided to stay with her, using his lap as an impromptu pillow for her as he began meditation.

When he asked how long the fueling would last when they docked at the station, Shepard realized that it should have been fear that he should have experienced about his mother.

The young dock officer shrugged. "I do not know sir. I have been informed to escort you and the craft's passengers to a meeting. Your weapons will be left on your ship."

Knots started forming in Shepard's stomach. The last thing he wanted to do was run into anyone who knew him, but he didn't have much of a choice, now did he? _Might as well take advantage of it_. "Actually, could you provide quarters for us? One of our party has been through quite an ordeal."

"I am afraid I cannot do that sir. You are to come a once."

Their escort was significant. Two armed marines marched alongside each of them. A good half-dozen more including the officer stayed to the front and back of the formation. They were all taken to one of the audience rooms used for meetings for dignitaries or the Alliance chiefs. Shepard had been in one of these as a trainee serving as spare security. An interesting experience.

They were ushered through the doors. Inside was Shepard's mother Hannah, Admiral Hackett, and several other faces in the the military and political leadership. All the types he had wanted to avoid. This meeting was not his mother's intention, that much was certain based on her expression.

One of the politicians spoke up first. If Shepard remembered, it was MP William Tarold from Terra Nova, a long-time opposition leader before the meteoric rise of Terra Firma following the First Contact War supplanted his own party as head of the opposition coalition. "Mr. Shepard, it is a pleasure to see you alive."

_Best to play the part of the gentleman._ "My thanks to you ministers, Captain, admirals, for your help and hospitality."

Captain Shepard clicked her tongue. "John, didn't I raise you to not drag young women with you across the galaxy. Look at the state of her!"

Shepard was about to speak, but was intercepted by the said woman. The first words she had spoken since the incident on the surface. "My apologies for my appearance, Captain. Accommodations for myself were requested the Commander, but I understand that was impossible."

One of the elderly admirals Shepard did not know spoke. His tone was rather bitter. "Yes, that was the nature of the orders. I was not aware of an injured civilian though." The admiral shot a glare at Hackett. So, he thought that Hackett was holding out on them... interesting. _I guess Mother wasn't the culprit behind the forced stay._

Captain Shepard took advantage of the Admiral's admittance. "Surely this is not the time to be doing this, good sirs. May I suggest we meet later after they have had time to refresh themselves."

There were murmurs of agreement all around. Some of them look amazed enough to just see a live Shepard or, among the civilians, the blood on Oriana. Likely they wanted time to process and prepare for this meeting now that they knew that it was more than just a sick joke. I mean, who would honestly believe he was alive even if they had read intelligence reports of his activities? Extremist groups do not have the power to resuscitate the dead.

The elder admiral relented somewhat grudgingly. "Very well. We will reconvene later. Lieutenant, take them to guest quarters."

They were all ushered out of the room as fast and wordlessly as they entered it and under just as heavy guard. They were given a pair of guest rooms. While each had all the necessary facilities of a good hotel, each had only one bed. Shepard and Oriana were taken to one room and Thane and Jacob to the other.

Shepard was rather annoyed by the care they received. It didn't matter how much he bothered the guards outside. There was no food. Nor did they receive any changes of clothing. Obviously this effected Oriana the most, but if they were going to be stuck there till God knows when... Shepard may have been able to practically live in his armor and he did remove some of the accessory plates to make it more comfortable, but that did not mean he wanted to stay in it forever.

They had changed tactics and Oriana tried to get the guards to help her with puppy dog eyes when Admiral Hackett and Captain Shepard came to the room.

The captain understood the situation immediately. "Oh, deary me. You there, get a pair of uniforms up here. You know what, never mind. I'll do it myself. Bless their hearts, but men have no eye for sizes. You haven't grown any since last time I saw you, have you John?"

He grumbled, embarrassed at his mother's antics. She apparently took that as a no, turning her attention back to the flustered and confused guard. "Well what are you waiting for young man? To the galley with you. She looks positively famished. Now, if you will excuse me sir."

Admiral Hackett and she exchanged a small salute before she left like the Southern matron she was. Oriana smiled at Shepard, who was still lightly blushed in embarrassment. "Sir, I must apologize for my mother."

The admiral chuckled at his concern. "There is no need Commander. She is a great help to me. She has improved enormously since she got the opportunity to speak with you too."

Oriana noticed a gentle smile touch the admiral's lips as Shepard let him into the room, shutting the door behind. She had seen Hackett on TV before, after the Battle of the Citadel, and he hadn't changed much since then. A full head of hair that at one point would have a rich brown was now a pepper texture. His fifty-some year old face was still largely untouched by age. Despite having been at the helm of the Fifth Fleet practically since it was founded, or maybe because of it, he was still the youngest Full Admiral in the Alliance Fleet. He turned to face Shepard. "I must say, she is part of a dying breed. Not too many people are able to stay the same when power is thrust at them. Had the guts to turn down a promotion n order to prevent herself from being turned into a political tool."

The admiral to a seat as he continued."I am afraid that you are part of a dying breed too, albeit a different one. As you can guess, the chaos on Earth was to destabilize the major powers there. Despite this, the Alliance refused to get involved. You did though."

"I'm afraid to say that it was not my intention to interfere with the local operations or to take out whoever the terrorists were."

Oriana spoke up. "It was Cerberus."

Hackett raised an eyebrow and looked Shepard. The marine just shrugged. He hadn't seen anything that suggested who planned the campus occupation.

Oriana got up, pacing and talking more to herself than the others. "Yes, the recruiters claimed to be part of Terra Firma, but they aren't so militant as to attack humans even if they are allied with foreigners. Would go against their core principles. Someone must have been setting them up. Cerberus would gain a great deal from making Terra Firma look like extremists. Would allow Cerberus to look like they were less extreme, maybe even lead to their legitimization as a pro-human political party. Maybe even replace Terra Firma. Even better if Cerberus can make it look like they stopped the attacks."

She snapped out of 'data-processing mode' and looked at the Admiral. "The attacks were on Earth because whoever planned them know that the Alliance would not interfere. Chances are that they will spread out of the system briefly and then there will be a series of swift strikes against Terra Firma locations and personnel by uniformed Cerberus cell members. Following that, Cerberus will make an alliance-wide message, claiming that they have destroyed the threat and the attacks will stop. They will then make a bid for legitimization, using public support and planted politicians in the Alliance Parliament and major Earth governments to gain party status. You can guess of where it goes from there."

The older man blinked several times and then turned to Shepard, shell-shocked. "Who the hell is she?"

"Oriana. She is the sister of one of my crew members and a student at the university that was attacked in the United North American States. I knew she was smart, but this... I'm speechless."

She looked down, now embarrassed of having spoke out of turn. The young woman bit her lip before speaking again. "I'm sorry."

She was stopped from saying more by the Admiral's laughter. Oriana looked at Shepard, concerned that there was a joke she was missing, some sort of military humor. The Commander just looked back at her with a frustratingly uninterpretable half-smile.

Hackett cleared his throat when he stopped laughing. "Forgive me. I jut wish my political advisors had half your intelligence. Fortunately, we already considered the Cerberus angle. The attacks fit their original profile. The only thing missing was motive, but to be honest I hope you are wrong in at least that part. Last thing I want to see is that bunch as sitting MPs."

The door opened to let in Hannah. Her arms were burdened by two bundles of clothes. As usual, she took over the conversation "Now, I'm not sure if it'll fit you perfectly, but here are some decent things. As for you John, I brought a set of your old clothes."

Oriana took her's with only a murmured thanks, immediately retreating to the bathroom. Everyone understood that she wasn't being rude, but needed to get away from the blood and the memories it represented, preferably as quickly as possible. Shepard, on the other hand, took his with complaint. His voice tinged with her accent in irritation, something that only his mother could get out of him anymore. "My word, Ma. Do ya keep my clothes in your gear or something."

"No dear. I have a place here on the station. A captain's perk, you could say."

Hackett smiled and looked at John as he spoke. "Hannah, it's better that you don't lie through your teeth."

"Now Steven, it's not nice to call people prevaricators."

Shepard raised an eyebrow at that little break in protocol. Neither of them seemed to notice his surprise. They must have been so used to ignoring rank in private that they forgot that he wouldn't be expecting it.

Hannah clapped her hands, as if to authoritatively signal the end of the teasing. "Anyway John, there is someone I want to introduce you to. Provided she hadn't try to run away."

John started after his mother as she went back to the door to open it. "If this is about finding me a girl, I've already got one waiting for me back on the Normandy."

She turned back, her face practically glittering. "Really now? I am absolutely going to have to meet that young woman. But first you get to meet someone else." John groaned internally. He had just opened a can of worms he had hoped would have remained closed for a while yet.

Captain Shepard said a couple of indiscernible things on the other side of the door. When she returned to the main room, she had a young woman in tow. Shepard failed to bite back his exclamation before it slipped out of his mouth. "You?"

The young Asian woman in a North American States Self-Defense Force officer's uniform gave an informal salute before moving into an at-ease position. "Commander. I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Ume Katsuyori Shepard, a child of your father. _D__ō__zo yoroshiku_..."

Questions? Comments? Flames? Random utterances? If so, please click that big green text below. You know you want to...


	6. Chapter 6 Military Politics

Avalon

Chapter 6 – Military Politics

_Captain Shepard said a couple of indiscernible things on the other side of the door. When she returned to the main room, she had a young woman in tow. Shepard failed to bite back his exclamation before it slipped out of his mouth. "You?"_

_The young Asian woman in a North American States Self-Defense Force officer's uniform gave an informal salute before moving into an at-ease position. "Commander. I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Ume Katsuyori Shepard, a child of your father. Dōzo yoroshiku..."_

* * *

The silence was palatable. Well there was the background noise of the shower, but that hardly counted. The half-siblings were staring at each other. The Lieutenant was sizing up how the human hero of the era matched up to reality, but the Commander was more passive, just taking in this new reality. _Those blue eyes, definitely a Shepard._

He offered her a hand. "Err... nice to meet you too. What do you prefer to be called Lieutenant?"

That was hardly the first question she was expecting, so it took her a beat to catch up with events and give his hand a shake. "Yuki, if you don't mind."

He chuckled at the silliness of all this. "Very well Yuki. Call me John."

Yuki's face that had been stoic up to this point was colored with mischief, a light smirk pulling at a corner of her lips. "Of course Commander." That made Shepard roll his eyes in an amused fashion. This could get interesting.

The Admiral cleared his throat. "Why don't you all go down to the galley and get some food. I'm sure you are hungry Commander."

Captain Shepard put an arm around her adopted daughter's shoulders. "My, what a pleasant idea."

Yuki looked like her mother was the only thing keeping her holding still. "I'll go back to your apartment and change into something a little less..." She pulled at her high collar, "stiff." John smiled in sympathy, she had no love for mess dress himself and North American States Self-Defence Forces's version looked even more fancy and uncomfortable than it's Alliance counterpart.

Hackett stood to see them all to the door. "I'll wait here for Oriana."

-x-

The Captain's quarters were the opposite way from the section's mess, so mother and son got alone face-to-face time for the first time since the aftermath of John's tour on Akuze. He took the opportunity to ask a question that had begun to plague his mind. "Why did you accept her? I'm sure you were not happy when you found out Dad had an affair."

She did not answer right away. "True, if your father had been alive I would have skinned the man. However, it would go against my sensibility to leave family on the street. The sins of the father do not reflect on the daughter. The clan has already accepted her in their own way."

Shepard wasn't surprised by the fact about the extended family, but was fearful for the impression that they likely left on the seemingly cosmopolitan and reserved young woman. However, a Shepard family gathering always involved alcohol and lots of it, despite a preponderance towards being either genetically intolerant to the drink or simply lightweights. Those who could hold their liquor like himself could exploit this to gain respect at these gatherings. His sister could have done what he did, gain quick recognition and then avoid the clan when you can.

A sister. That was a concept that would take getting used to. Didn't help much that she was already twenty and successful, totally different yet so similar to the relationship between Oriana and Miranda. Speaking of which...

"Hey, Mom? I know I'm asking a lot, but I need access to a FTL communications connection. At the very least I need to let my XO know that her sister is safe."

She stopped him with a hand, somehow pulling off looking at him down her nose like a scolding teacher despite him being almost a foot taller. "Of course, but is that all that'll be going on?"

John just smiled at her nostalgic attempt at interrogation. "As attractive as she may be, my XO is not my girlfriend."

She sighed in mock sorrow. "Just when I thought I would be able to invite myself along."

-x-

Miranda was in the mess when EDI chimed in over the intercom. "Ms. Lawson, there is an incoming transmission for you."

"I'll take it in my quarters."

Miranda was a bit disappointed to return to her office/sleeping quaters. Her trip to the mess was the first time she had managed to leave it in a good 24 hours except on business, what with being buried eye-deep in back reports, administration, and general XO type things. When it was Shepard's face on the screen when she turned it on, she forgot her disappointment. "Oh, thank god. It had been so long, I was beginning to think that something had gone wrong."

Shepard looked a little uncomfortable. "Well... I'll come to that later. What's important is that Oriana is out of harms way. Except..."

Miranda felt a pit begin to form in her stomach as Shepard cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, I'm trying to think of how to put this. Oriana is safe and physically fine. Her parents were not so lucky. They were added to the bombing casualty list just before we left the Sol system."

"Oh no..."

He forged on, clearly not wanting to lose his current head of steam. "Also, Oriana has been through some trauma. I don't know the whole story. She hasn't talked about it, but I do know for sure that she was forced to kill at least one person."

"Kill... no, that can't be." Miranda got up from her chair and started pacing.

"Miranda, we found her by hearing gunshots. She had a used pistol on her, and there was a dead man riddled with bullet holes of the same caliber. To make matters worse, it was an Alliance-issue training pistol. The only place that had them on campus was the ROTC facility. Reports coming in indicate that it was attacked not an hour after we received the message from her. I've seen the holos Miranda, it was a warzone. Assault rifles, high-explosive grenades, anti-material sniper rifles... Not a single cadet survived. Even the ones that joined whatever extremist group attacked here look like they were killed by their so-called allies in the end. Probably to keep their mouths shut on who recruited them."

Shepard paused to hopefully give Miranda a moment to processes before giving his own input. "I know this is precisely the kind of thing that you wanted to shield her from but at least she's alive."

She was clearly upset in the few glimpses that Shepard managed to catch of her as she walked in and out of the her com's pickup in her pacing. Suddenly the sound of splitting flesh came from off screen.

He yelled, hoping that the sound cancelation system on this end would hold up. "EDI!"

-o-

Miranda was pacing, not even listening to Shepard with the blood roaring in her ears. She could not believe it. She had failed her sister. They had failed Oriana. There was no turning back from this.

In frustration, she punched the wall bisecting her quarters with her left hand. It's impact was greeted by a sickly sound has the cloth and flesh on her knuckles tore under the pressure. She could not feel the pain. It was too early to be feeling anything.

She could hear Shepard yell something over the connection, but she paid more attention to the opening door. Grunt blocked the door and advanced quickly on her. She tried to blast him away with her biotics, but the unfocused effort didn't even phase him. She felt herself forced to the wall, put into a full-body pin by the krogan. Miranda tried to resist the iron grip, even though she knew it was useless. The sudden stick of a needle in exposed neck made her hiss, but the world was already fading.

-o-

Tali arrived just in time to watch Mordin drug the distraught human. Her resistance to Grunt's pin died off quickly as it acted. It was strange to watch the krogran gently carry the woman out of the room, undoubted bound for the Medbay as blood dripped from tears in Miranda's glove.

Shepard's voice came from Miranda's terminal, dripping with concern. "Umm, is anyone there?"

Tali came around the desk to see his face. "She's sleeping."

He let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. She was sure that he had been scared out of his wits hearing the scuffle, but not being able to see it. It only lasted a moment though as he fixed his face into work mode. "What's the status of the ship?"

"Hull repair is completely done. Systems are hardly at peek efficiency, but we are spaceworthy."

"Good to hear. I can't tell you when we will be there, but we have left Earth." His voice became tender. "See you soon."

Tali closed down Miranda's terminal as the connection terminated. There was something wrong. Why would they be messaging at all? Shepard would normally press on and maintain radio silence. After all, they all would technically be wanted persons in Alliance space because of their connections to Cerberus. He wasn't in the shuttle either when he had sent that message.

Yes, something didn't feel right at all. "EDI, consider Miranda relieved of command for now."

Joker's voice came over the intercom. "Will she be ok?"

"I hope so." There was nothing else she could tell him. Tali paused as she thought, fingers absently playing on the corner of Miranda's desk as she fully considered the next course of action. "Prepare for departure as soon as we have loaded the most recent order of supplies."

"Destination?" Joker didn't seem to surprised by sudden change in plan.

"Arcturus Station."

-o-

Shepard breathed a sigh of relief and wiped to cold sweat that had begun to form on his brow. He had been so concerned that Miranda might have done injury to herself.

He took another deep breath to clear his head. As much as he wanted to worry about the state of things on the Normandy, more important things beckoned, like the fact that there was no way to get out of here without putting his mother and Admiral Hackket in hot water. Instead, they needed to play out this little sham. But what was the point? Were there people who were being backed by the pro-human faction? People worried about him being a delusional nutcase with too much power? That last part was at least somewhat understandable.

He laughed at a stray thought as he left the extranet booth. It was a good thing that his mother did not come along or else he would have really ended up having to introduce Tali and that was something he was definitely not ready for. _Let her cope with the fact that I'm am actually alive and in the flesh first, then we can explain the whole alien love affair_.

-x-

The meal in the mess was only slightly awkward, at least for Shepard and Co. There was no one that Shepard knew personally, but that was hardly necessary for everyone to recognize him. Fortunately the presence of his mother and later the admiral when Hackett and Oriana joined them kept the oglers at arm's length. On a major base station like Arcturus, officer's mess was a loose term, running the gambit from fancy restaurants for admirals and senior captains like Hannah Shepard and Steven Hackett to glorified cafeterias for the lieutenants. This mess was definitely the latter and, like any good junior officer, the regular diners kept away.

While they were eating though, a young woman in the uniform of a lieutenant did approach with several datapads in hand. Hackett motioned towards her when she hesitated on the edge of the invisible bubble that their rank exuded in the sea of junior officers. "Ah Commander, this is my flag lieutenant, Caelia Andez. Lieutenant Andez, Commander Shepard and his companion."

Rightfully, Andez should have saluted, but with her hands full, she and the Commander just exchanged respectful nods. She turned her attention back to the Admiral. "Sir, the forms you requested."

Hackett nodded approvingly at his Lieutenant. "Ah, good. Now, Shepard. I do believe that your ship registration is about to run out, no?"

"Is it? I am honestly unaware of that. I am afraid that my XO deals with more of the bureaucratic topics than she should. She would probably say in more eloquent words that it is to allow me more save-the-world time."

"Well, either way I am sure that you need a source of support. As you know, I have full discretion over the funds allocated for the Corsairs attached to the Fifth Fleet."

Shepard must have made a face because his mother reached over to put a hand over his sitting on the table. "I think it a good idea, John. It'll give ya support at a distance. More importantly, it'll mean your folks can get clean slates."

That got his approval even more than the support. He was thinking about going totally independent. That would be hard to do with attachments back to the Alliance again, even as tenuous as the corsairs required. However, Alliance support would allow his crew, some of whom were undoubtedly wanted men and women in Alliance space by now for being illegal paramilitary members, to come home without the protection of Cerberus.

He made his decision. "Alright. I guess it is worth it."

Hackett seemed to be a little too relived by his decision. "Good. Now, where is the first form, Andez?"


	7. Chpr 7 Our trials are not just our own

Note: Ship names from here on out will be italicized as they should have been from the start. And yes, Shepard is a Norwegian Blue parrot. =P

One final note, I started writing this before the Shadow Broker and Arrival DLCs were released, so they have obviously did not occur in this version of the story, at least not yet.

Avalon

Chapter 7 – Our trials are not just our own

Miranda was not a happy camper when she woke up in the medbay. She knew deep down that she had needed that knockout before things got totally out of control and she opened quarters to vacuum with her biotics. No, what was making Miranda upset was the fact that she was covered in bruises from Grunt's initial treatment, whatever drug the others had used left her feeling uncoordinated, dizzy, and achey all over, and the whole with Oriana situation left her angry at herself.

As soon as she could physically manage it, she 'slipped' out of medbay while Chakwas was away and the main space of the deck largely empty. 'Slipped' as in almost literally falling out the door. It was a good thing that the few people left to possibly notice her were too engrossed in their varrious tasks to notice a bomb going off. Keeping herself upright with the corridor railings, she managed to make it all the way to the briefing room. Miranda could hardly believe that she was doing this, but she needed answers. The lights of the communications room dimmed at the table lowered into the floor. More confident on her feet now, she walked over to where the holo-environment would display in the center of the room without stumbling despite the lack of support.

-o-

An insistent beeping in the Illusive Man's office terminal pushed for his attention. He was beginning to think that he would never hear the chime of the _Normandy's_ quantum communicator ever again.

The Illusive Man turned his chair about to get a good look at who was calling on him as he pressed the button to open communications. The form of his best agent, correction: former agent, appeared in a rather disheveled state. "Ms. Lawson, you are a mess."

She didn't seem to hear him. "Why did you do it?"

There was a beat of silence before he inquired, "Excuse me?"

"Earth." Somehow she managed to make the name of the homeworld sound like the ultimate swear word.

The Illusive Man pulled out a cigarette, lit it and took a deep pull before answering, contemplating what needed to be said. "I thought you understood. Shepard is the best hope for humanity, but now he is a loose cannon. While there are advantages to that, I can not stand idly by and trust him to do what's necessary while leaving me blind. Contingency plans that were put in place in case the Lazarus project failed have gone into effect."

He leaned forward, watching Miranda's reactions closely. "Now, I do not think the Ms. Lawson I knew would be contacting me on something so trivial as current events..."

Her answer cut him off and was deadpan, her face expressionless. "Oriana's parents are dead."

That took him off guard, causing his brow to furrow and his light frown to deepen. He had not received any word along those lines. Could it be that the cell that was supposed to be protecting Oriana fell or went rogue to join the terror attacks? He needed information and now. "You have my condolences, but I was not aware. How is your sister?"

"I'm not sure, traumatized at the least. After all, you agents attacked the university she was at and killed dozens in front of her."

The Illusive Man sighed. The incident at the university he did know about, though not about Oriana being there. Messy business that was. One of the problems of the cell structure was that when people got overzealous there was nothing to keep them in check when they 'went off the reservation.' The agents were supposed to recruit some of the cadets and let them do some local dirty work, not kill every civilian in sight and massacre the whole barracks. "That was not part of the plan and totally out of my control. You need to believe me that I did not intend to harm Oriana in any way."

She didn't respond in any way to that, so he continued, "I can find a new place for..."

Miranda continued to be expressionless, but at least her voice now dripped with venom and her eyes burned with cold fire where before there was just dead coals. "No thank you."

The Illusive Man was about to tell Miranda that she was being rash, to remind her of her desire to keep Oriana away from the violence and heartlessness of the Universe when the connection was terminated. He honestly hoped that she would not come to regret her decision. Then again, if Oriana had really been at the massacre and her parents were dead, then there was little else to protect her from.

The damage had been done. He put out the cigarette a bit more violently than normally. He needed answers, but the people with the information were most likely dead. The sun behind him flared, as if reflecting his anger.

-x-

Several hours of rest found Shepard before the same board he faced before. Only this time, there was even more tension in the air and his compatriots had been forced to wait in an adjacent room. Also, his mother now sat next to him in what could only be described as a defendant's stand.

The elderly admiral who seemed to be running the show before spoke first. "This hearing is now officially reopened. Now, would the clerk read the objective of this session from the record."

The uniformed clerk, seated at a desk beneath the table on it's raised dais, consulted his monitor. "To ascertain the truth of the recent events surrounding the actions of Mr John Shepard and Captain Shepard of the _Orizaba_ in the Acturus system."

One of the politicians, whom John did not recognize spoke almost on top of the clerks final words. "Thank you. Now captain, did you, as the commanding officer of the SSV_ Orizaba_, allow the passage of the Kodiak piloted by John Shepard through the Arcturus Relay to Earth?"

"Yes, I did."

"Did your relationship with Mr. Shepard cloud your judgement in this matter?"

The captain raised an eyebrow and her eyes narrowed, something John knew was a bad sign. "My relationship with _Commander_ Shepard gave me a unique insight into his personality, which assisted my decision-making process. It could hardly be said that I let him the relay under that sole basis as is being suggested, sir."

Admiral Hackett stood and interrupted the proceeding. "My apologies, but what is the point behind this line of questioning?"

The elderly admiral answered. "The captain let an individual with known connections to a terrorist organization into a protected space that she did not have the authority to do so in the first place. If that isn't any reason for a court-martial, I don't know what is!"

That clearly irked Hackett, who slammed a fist against the table. "This is not a court-martial or an investigative hearing, it is a Star Chamber! First of all, Captain Shepard did have the authority. A ship that was supposed to be on duty was unavailable because of emergency repairs. Admiral Gordeeva asked if a replacement could be sent from the Fifth Fleet. It was at that time that I temporary transferred the SSV _Orizaba_ to his command to take the ship's place."

A younger admiral on the opposite end of the row cleared his throat. His accent was like those from the Russian Federation. "That is correct. The SSV_ Riga_ was experiencing extreme power fluctuations that were later found to be linked to an instability in the ship's primary generators. Because of her seniority, Captain Shepard was the ranking officer of the guard squadron in question and took over command for the _Riga's_ commander, Captain Horalszby, as he attended repairs to his own vessel."

Hackett continued on his roll. "Additionally gentlemen, Commander Shepard and the _Normandy_ had enrolled as members of the Corsairs attached to the Fifth Fleet several weeks ago."

Shepard tried to not show the surprise he was feeling. Sure, he had filled out the paperwork when the Admiral had suggested it, but how was it possible to have a backdated copy? The only thing that made sense was that Hackett had already submitted a forged registry for the _Normandy_ as a Corsair, using Shepard's file and the data from scans of the new _Normandy_ taken by Alliance Intelligence to make a believable document and then fixed the information with the data Shepard had just provided them.

Admiral Gordeeva cleared his throat in the stunned silence the others on the board were left in before speaking. "Is this true, Commander?"

_A bold one, this is_, Shepard thought. "Hackett and I were in communication and did make such an agreement shortly after the Council restored my SPECTRE status. Though I still worked with a crew that answered to the Illusive Man, I did not take on any work from them that knowingly endangered either Alliance or Council assets." His eyes narrowed in remembrance. "In fact, I recall preforming several missions for the admiral, as well as transmitting sensitive information on Cerberus operations past and present to the Alliance Command mainframes."

The Russian admiral continued to steamroll over the others. "It would therefore seem that you and your crew did not commit any acts of treason or terrorism against the Systems Alliance, yes?"

The elder admiral spoke up. "Still, he did violate his commission by serving under another's colors."

Mr. Tarold answered the man. "Please excuse my ignorance for military maters, but didn't the fact that he and his ship are members of the Corsairs eliminate that problem."

"The man is a deserter, Will."

The MP wasn't having it. "The man died Armin. He kicked the bucket, shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain, and joined the bleeding choir invisible! This is an ex-marine!" By the end of the declamation he was glaring at the admiral, but was made almost comical by his absentminded messaging of the pointer finger he had stubbed by using it to emphasize the words of his last sentence against the table.

"But Will..."

"No Armin. I humored you in organizing this hearing because, who knew, you might have been right about making Shepard out to be a boogieman. Still, dying voided his commission. He is no longer a Marine officer. Therefore, you have no jurisdiction over him. Seeing he has not broken any civilian laws that I am aware of outside of the line of duty as either a Corsair or SPECTRE, we politicians can't do anything to him either." He faced the surprised mother and son. "As co-chair of this hearing, I hereby apologize to both of you on behalf of Parliament and call this meeting to a close."

-x-

The _Normandy_ entered the Arcturus System with what should have been total surprise. They had managed to not be detected the whole way from Omega thanks to the stealth systems. There had been one or two close calls. However, they had not caused by skillful near-detections, but mechanical issues on the _Normandy_. Tali didn't entirely understand the exact why behind the phenomenon still, but it seemed like everything on the ship ran smoother when Shepard was aboard. The ship was hardly in top form so any number of systems could have be experiencing bugs that ultimately triggered the malfunctions, but there was no time to suss it all out.

Despite not being detected, the defenses of Arcturus seemed to be ready for them. This seemed to realize Tali's fears. Shepard had been discovered and was now in Alliance custody. The Alliance then set the trap that Tali had blindly taken the _Normandy_ into.

She stood behind Joker as she watched several Alliance frigates streak away from the rest of the guardian fleet that had been waiting at the relay arrival point and head towards them. The small ships were dwarfed by the new _Normandy_ despite being the same class of ship as her on paper and rendered inferior to the _Normandy_ in several ways, but they obviously held the advantage of numbers and along with the guns of several cruisers and a dreadnaught at their back for fire support. Even though Tali was not contemplating an engagement, the very thought that there was little chance to escape and no way to win a fight was not comforting.

EDI played the hail they were receiving over the bridge's intercom. "This is the SSV _Tai Shan_ to the _Normandy_. You are hereby commanded to cut your engines and prepare to be boarded. I repeat, you are to cut your engines and prepare to be boarded."

Tali placed a hand on Joker's shoulder. "We cannot escape this. Best power down."

Joker felt that he could likely get them out of there, but who knew what would happen to Shepard then. Reluctantly, he powered down the _Normandy._

-o-

They floated there in space for a good quarter-hour with no further word from their captors. When they finally did make a move, instead of sending one of the frigates to dock, the Alliance Navy sent in a shuttle.

Most of the team waited at the internal viewport when the shuttle came in to land. Because it was carrying a different ID code, Tali felt her heart skip when the _Normandy's_ Kodiak of all ships floated into the bay's open doors. Miranda, who had managed to pull herself into some semblance of order, came with Tali and Garrus into the bay while the other's waited outside in case of deception. Garrus had hidden himself amongst some of the gear in the room, "just in case," he had said.

When the shuttle's hatch popped open, Tali forced herself to let out the breath that she had been holding. First out of the hatch was Admiral Hackett of all people, followed by two women that she did not know. Jacob and Thane slipped out from behind the humans and joined Garrus off to one side where the turian had left his hiding place, sniper rifle strapped to the back of his armor.

Then Tali found herself bounding forward as Shepard came out of the shuttle next to another young woman. Relief flooded her voice when she noticed that he was unharmed. "Shepard! Thank goodness you are all right." She did manage to stop herself before hugging her lover. After all, she didn't know most of the humans present, so discretion was the better part of valor.

He squeezed his forearm. "Tali." After sharing a glance with the young woman, who turned towards a visibly shaken Miranda, Shepard turned to the other two women who had come with him. "Mother, Yuki? I would like to introduce to you a member of my crew, Tali'zora vas Normandy. Tali, this is my mother, Captain Hannah Shepard, and my sister, Lieutenant Ume Katsuyori Shepard."

Tali was stunned and for once found herself without words. She was being introduced to the in-laws, in a manner of speaking. She was glad that the tinted glass of her mask hid her burning cheeks and gaping mouth as she mentally stumbled. She remembered something about human etiquette and started to put her hand out when she found it being captured between both of Hannah Shepard's own hands. "Oh my, it is splendid to meet you dear. I do believe I remember John mentioning a quarian being on the crew of the previous Normandy. Was that you?"

Tali could only dumbly reply, "I, uh, yes, that was me."

Hannah pulled her daughter, who had appeared distracted by something behind Tali, closer to her. "As John said, this is Ume."

Tali shared a hand shake with her as well, regaining more of her articulation in the process. "Pleased to meet you."

"You as well. Please, call me Yuki."

-o-

Katsumi smiled when the young woman who later introduced herself as Yuki looked right at her shortly after coming out of the shuttle, despite the young thief using her customized cloaking tech and being partly concealed by the Hammerhead in the shuttle bay. Hopefully she would get a chance to talk to the young woman before she left.

-o-

Oriana could feel a combination of dread and nervousness weigh in her belly as she slowly made her way towards her sister. Miranda looked visibly upset, which did not help her own uneasiness. Was her sister upset with her? She did not know how much Miranda had been told when Shepard contacted the _Normandy _previously. The thought that her only (true) family left in the universe had come to hate her or feel shame made her throat catch and a prickling sensation to star in her eyes. After a moment, she managed to get out, despite her thickened voice, "Miranda?"

She was caught off guard when the former operative closed the distance between them and caught her in an almost painful embrace. Oriana tried to return the gesture the best she could with her arms pinned to her sides. Nothing surprised her more though when the tickling sensation of warm water soaking through the shoulder of her Alliance-issue jumper. "Sis? Sis, it's ok. I am ok. Everything will be all right."

She managed to hear Miranda say in muffled tones into her shoulder, "I'm sorry. I am so sorry."

The prickling in Oriana's eyes got worse as she maneuvered Miranda so her face would be visible to as few of her crewmates as possible. "Miranda, nothing is your fault." She managed to push her older sister away far enough to get a look at her face. Fortunately, Miranda had not worn any eye makeup, so it was easy for Oriana to clean her face with the edge of a cuff. She finished of the action by kissing her sister on the forehead, an action that always made her feel fuzzy inside whenever her foster mother did it to her.

Oriana smiled for her sister, the hot trail of one of her own tears finally escaping and tracing down her cheek. "I'm home."

-o-

Legion took note to ask EDI for footage of the events that occurred in the shuttle bay to supplement his own observations from the viewport one deck up. It would certainly prove to be an interesting study of humanoid emotions in action. However, he geth platform came to a different consensus as it headed into the elevator to return to the AI core room. No, it would be better to first inquire on the limits and boundaries of this concept of 'privacy.'


End file.
